f all the books on famous
places none has ever explored the extraordinary element of chance in propelling often tiny places to worldwide fame. That is what makes the pages of Fame by Chance so intriguing.

Here are the tales of places that might have remained obscure forever unless something significant had happened there - and happened there by a sheer stroke of fortune. All the way from Abbey Road to Zeebrugge, from Aberfan to Wounded Knee, from Chappaquiddick to 10, Rillington Place.

380 places that became famous by chance are brought together for the first time in this book. Places made famous for a myriad of reasons: people and products, sex and scandal, murder and mayhem, foods and fashions, discoveries and disasters, births and battles, plants and politics, animals and arts.

An absorbing read, a valuable reference book, and full of fascinating nuggets, Fame by Chance is an A-Z with a difference. You may have heard of some, most or even all of the places; now you can discover by what lucky (or unlucky) chance they shot to fame.